Machine for producing printed railway-tickets.



PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

G'. LANGE.

MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PRINTED RAILWAY TICKETS.

APPLICATION TILED APR. 12. 1901.

B SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

G. LANGE. MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PRINTED RAILWAY TICKETS.

APPLICATION FILED APB. 12.1901.

6 SHEETS-SHBET 2.

PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

} G.LANGE. MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PRINTED RAILWAY TICKETS.

APPLICATION FILED APB.12. 1901.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

'PATENTED JAN.16, 1906. G. LANGE. MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PRINTED RAILWAY TICKETS.

APPLICATION IILED APR.12. 1901.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

Z/ awvewtor witwmw I'M L PATENTED JAN. 16, .1906. G. LANGE.

MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PRINTED RAILWAY TICKETS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 12. 1901.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

UNITED STATES r yrnrrrv OFFICE.

' GABRIEL LANGE, OF PARIS, FRAN E. MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PRINTED RAlLWAYr-TICKETS.

To all whom, it nwty concern;

Be it known that I, GABRIEL LANGIil, a citizen of the French Republic, residing at Paris, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Producin Printed Railway-Tickets, of which the fo lowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide a machine for printing railway-tickets for different classes and destinations as they are reuired for sale, the number of different destinations being almost unlimited. The ma chine prints the required text on a strip of n strips, which are conveniently placed in the .machine for the purpose.

The principal parts composing-the machine are as follows:

First. The fixed blocks or dies, which determine the plane in which the impression takes place and which bear the inscription common to all the tickets, the name of the office circulating the tickets, the date, and the class. These dies form the fixed part of the machine, by the side of which-the dies forming the movable part of the machine take their place. r

Second. A notched drum over which passes an endless chain of any required number of links, each link of which carries two dies fixed side by side. The drum is turned b means of a hand-wheel, which causes at wil any die Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 12, 1901. Serial No. 55,502.

carried on the links of the chain to appear by 'the side of the fixed blocks in the printing plane.

These movable blocks bear the text necessary to complete the printing ot the tickets.

Third. Two parallel and independent beams each carrying the ticket and control strips and each of which when oscillated by its leverswin s and places the strips in contact with the lilocks, (fixed and movable,) which in their turn have previously been inked by an ink-roller, thus printing the complete text of one ticket and a record thereof upon the said control-strip. Each beam is provided i p with the necessary a paratus for advancing strips gradually, and,.

the ticket or contro Patented J an. 16, 1906.

further, the ticket-beam has a knife for cutting off the tickets to a suitable'size.

Fourth. Two operating-levers, combined with other mechanism and connected toi the two beams, to render all irregularities 'of working impossible.

In order to make the construction and working of my machine clear, I have illustrated it by means of the accompanying drawings, in which, 6 Figure l is an end view with the outside casing removed and the main lever shown in its middle position. Fi 2 is a back view of the machine; Fig. 3, a p an of the two printbeams and the mechanism appertaining to the same; Fig. 4, a plan of a ticket; Fig. 5, a plan of a piece of the control-strip. Fig. 6 is a front view of the complete machine. Fig. 7 is a side view of Fig. 6. 'Figs. 8 and 9 are enlarged detail views of the racks, pawls, and 7 5 and also a horizontal shaft (1, on which are.

keyed a hand-Wheel e and a drum having notches g in its periphery into which the links of the endless chain it fit. It is understoodv that there are two dies 0; but as they are alike in their nature and mode of operation a go description of one will suffice for both. The J drum carries the rim 6 at one end provided with ratchet-notches j, inwhichthe roller -70 of the lever Z engages at the time that one pair of the blocks m, carried on each of the 5 links of the chain It, is exactly in the printingplane of the dies 0. The same notches j at each end of the drum at the fall of either of the levers n engage with a pin 0, which is secured to one of the levers 'n and which slides: in guides p, fixed to the frame a of the machine. This pin holds the drum f, and consequently the endless chain of blocks, perfectly immovable while the ticket'is bein printed at c.

In order to assure correct numbering ofthe tickets and perfect impressions of the same, an arrangement described hereinafter compels the operator to finish any stroke he has commenced, preventing thus ,the unlaw- 1-ro r K 1 and on opposite sides of n.

' Figs. 8 and 9 show clearly in detail the racks, pawls, and other contiguous parts, and

- it is here seen that the racks have between ful manufacture of tickets. This arrangement consists of two pairs of toothed plates q and r, with the teeth relatively reversed n, which works in a vertical plane and carries the two pawls s and t, which-pawls engage in the two ratchet-plates in opposite directions them a space suflicient for the manipulation of the lever n, and the pawls alternately engage in their respective racks g and r, and each of these pawls is pushed toward its rack by a spring 0 wound round their common axis b carried by the lever n.

The pawls s t are loosely mounted on the same axis, but held at such an angle by the springs that when one pawl is enga ed in its ratchet the other pawl is held out OI engagement, the pawls eing operated alternately as the lever it reaches the end of its stroke by suitably-bent arms to, fixed on the ratchetplates' and projecting over the rack-teeth, so

as to come against and force one pawl away from'its teeth when the lever n reaches the end of its stroke in the one direction, at the same time brin ing the other pawl into action. their extreme positions by spring-catches a: y, which engage with shoulders on their respeptive pawls only while the pawl is out of action and are alternately acted upon by stops 1) to release the pawls at the end of the stroke of the lever n.

A little before the end of the descending course of the lever a fixed stop a encounters a shoulder 0 formed on the pawl s, and compels it to separate from its rack q, and this swin ing of the awl 8 enables the catch 1:, acte upon by tie spring (i to engage behind a projection e on said pawl and holds it thus in a position of rest during the rising of the lever. After the disengagement of the pawl s and while the lever 1b is completing the remainder of its downward movement the lower stop 1; will en counter catch 1 and release the pawl t, which at once engag e teeth of its rack 1- under the action or a ring a What has been accomplished for the awls against the lower stop '0 will be accomp ished at the upper stop in the same manner.

In its upward and downward stroke the os cillating movement of each lever n is communicated to a connecting-rod b, rovided for oscillating one of the printin earns (1' about the fulcrum 0, against whic printingbeam the strip e, which ceives the impression, presses and passes i @nce over the cutting-blade f, held in tl. toothed rack g.

This rack is in gear with a toothed quadrant The paw s are maintained in either of b, pivotally mounted between thesai d of t e frame and provided with-a tail-i'od 'v Figs. 10 and 11 show clearly mitting;-

devices, and in these figures'is' shown the printing-beam d at an intermediate position, the rack g, the knife-'carrierf, and the lever 11, with notched sector h, being at their working osition, which wasgiven to them when the ever i struck a ainst the cross-bar l. The beam (1 will oscillate at c, and the pasteboard 6 passes between the beams d and the fixed dating-stamp c, then between the cutting-blade f and the counter-bladef carried by the beam d. The blade f being rigidly connected with the rack g, when the beam accomplishes its ascent the lever '11 of the sector h encounters the stop j, which makes it oscillate and raises the blade, as in Fig 11. The ticket is then cut and falls onto any suitable plate, table, or receptacle that may be provided for the purpose. In the descent the beam d causes lever 'i to meet with the fixed cross-piece Z, forming part of the inking-frame m, which brings back the levers i and the blade f to the position shown by Fig 10.

The strips e are of indefinite length; but their width must be adapted to the size of the machine. They are rolled on reels n, carried on standards 0 on the frame a. A roller p guides the strips. The paper 6 passes under the roller 19 and engages between the roller q, having three pins g and a roller 1". In this machine, the length of the ticket being determined by the width of the strips 6, the breadth of the said ticket is controlled by the amount of advance imparted to the strip by a roller g, mounted in each of the printing -beams d. By this arrangement the card is grip ed between the roller 9 and the roller 1". it each oscillation from below upward of the beam d one of the pins g is caught by the catch s, which causes the roller g to turn a third of a revolutionan amount corresponding to the width of the ticket. I The catch 3 is joined to the table 1), and a spring g presses it against the pins The paper also passes under the printing plane 2, made of rubber or leather, and finally over the cutting-bladef, which detaches the ticket printed by the pressure which was given it during the descent ofthe beam onto the dies 0, fixed on the table I).

The inking of the dies 0 and the corresponding blocks m is performed by an inking-roller t, held by a spring 11/, mounted on a rocking lever m, having its fulcrum on the frame a,

which lever in its turn is pushed toward the parts to be inked by a spring, but which a roller 1), carried on the printing-beam d,

a control strip or band m, which is wound on a reely, (see Fig. 1,) from'whenee it passes to a part of the printing-beam (1, covered ,with an india-rubber pad 2. It then turns upward over the roller a and returns to the reel b which effects the pulling of the strip. The pulling of the control-strip is effected by means of a small lever carrying at one end a ratchet-pawl (Z en aging in a ratchetwheel e fixed on the rec b the tailpiece of whichlever comes into contact as the printing-beam rises with an adjustable screw f provided for that purpose. The lever in its oscillation causes the said ratchet-wheel e to advance a distance of one tooth, and a locking-pawl g pivoted to the pivot of lever 0 locks the said ratchet-wheel and prevents the printed strip from unrollin As shown in Fig. 2, each block m is divided into two partsone for printin the ticket, the other for printing the contro -strip.

The series of printing-blocks, constructed suitably for difierent stations, arranged side by side and in two parallel series and these blocks when placed in the proper position relatively to the fixed dies compose the text of the ticket.

The numbering of the tickets of the same sort is effected by means of a series of five rollers provided with numerals on their pe riphery, which are actuated and increase the number they represent in combination by means of a ratchet-wheel k coupled to the unit-roller. This ratchet-wheel is operated in its turn at each downstroke of the printing-beam d by means of a catch-rod 7?, conveniently fixed on the under side of each printin -beam.

The Front part of the frame of the machine is provided with a window j through which the operator can clearly see the numbering of the tickets.

For the various sorts of tickets different machines must be provided, which are supplied with different-colored strips. Thus, for example, for singles a machine with yellow strips, for returns a machine with red strips is provided, and so on, there bein as many machines with differently-colored strips required to form a complete installation as there are various sorts of tickets.

Finally, two similar dies 16*, one of which is seen in Fig. l fixed at the top of the frame a, are actuated separately by a lever 1 fixed to each printing-beam (1. Each of these counters shows the number of tickets printed and delivered by the printing-beam which moves them. The number recorded by these counters is visible through two windows m provided for that purpose.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1. A machine of the character described,

comprising in combination a supporting-'- frame, a printing-table, ltw ordiesrfixedgparah lel to each other on said table, an" endless chain carrying a series of printing-blocks suitable for difl'erent stations arranged side by side and in two parallel series, which blocks when placed in the proper position relatively to the fixed dies compose the complete text of the ticket, a notched drum over which the said chain passes, means for turning the drum, two operating-levers, two printing-beams, means intermediate the said levers and the beams, whereby the latter may be operated by said levers, mechanism operated by the said beams for advancing strips of card the length of the width of a ticket in order that they may receive the impression from the fixed dies and block temporarily opposite to them, cutting devices and means intermediate said cutting devices and the beams whereby the tickets are cut off in the manner and for the purpose specified.

2; A machine of the character described, comprising in combination a supportingframe, a printing-table, two dies fixed para lel to each other on said table, an endless chain carrying aseries of printing-blocks suitable for different stations, arranged side by side in two parallel series, which blocks when placed in the proper position relatively to the fixed dies compose the complete text of the ticket, a notched drum over which the chain passes, means for turning the drum, two operating-levers, two printing-beams, means intermediate the levers and beams, whereby the latter may be operated by said levers, mechanism operated by said beams for ad vancing strips of card the length of the width of a ticket, cutting devices, means intermediate said cutting devices and the beams whereby the tickets are cut off, inking devices and means intermediate the beams and said inking devices whereby the latter will ink the blocks and dies after each cutting operation.

3. A machine of the character described, comprising in combination a supportingframe, a printing-table, two dies fixed para lel to each other on said table, an endless chain carrying a. series of printing-blocks suitable for different stations arranged side by side in two parallel series, a notched drum over which the chain passes, means for turning the drum, two operating-levers, two printing-beams, means intermediate the levers and beams, whereby the latter may be operated by the levers, two'parallel ratchet-plates having their teeth reversed, said plates being secured to the supporting-frame and print ing-table, as described, pawls on the operating-levers of the ratchet-plate, asdescribed, and stops adapted to engage with the teeth arranged at both ends of the ratchet-plates 4. A machine of the character described, comprising in combination a supportingframe, a printing-table, a die on said table, an endless chain carrying a series of printing blocks, a notched drum over which the chain passes, means for turning the drum, an operating-lever, a printing-beam, means intermediate the lever and beam whereby the latter may be operated by the lever, mechanism operated by said beam for advancing a strip of card, cutting devices, and means interme.

diate said cuttingdevices and the beam whereibly the tickets are out off in the manner speci- 5: The combination of two fixed dies or March, 1901.

. GABRIEL LANGE. Witnesses:

JOSEPH MATRAY,

EDWARD P. MAGLEAN. 

